Excellence in Video Storytelling, Long-form & Programs
Derek Schnell;
Other contributors: Jason Marks, Victor Nieto, Tamara Richter, “Fighting for Freedom: The United States v. Hamid Hayat,” KCRA
ABOUT THE WORK: In Fighting for Freedom: The United States v. Hamid Hayat, KCRA spent three years documenting Hayat's story, revealing how post 9/11 panic led to mistaken arrests, false confessions and wrongful convictions. We also showed, by speaking with his family, how wrongful convictions impact not only those imprisoned but their families, often for decades after these cases are overturned.
Our team looked through hundreds of pages of court documents. None of them included any evidence Hayat had ever attended a terror training camp. Hayat was interrogated in four sessions for up to 16 hours, at first denying his training then eventually falsely confessing under the belief he would finally get to go home and sleep. He told us when he watched those interrogations, he couldn’t even believe it was him and didn’t remember much of what he had said to the agents.
We also spoke with Hamid’s appellate legal team who revealed dramatic flaws in his original trial that contributed to his conviction. The lawyer appointed to him, Wazhma Mojaddidi, had never tried a criminal case. His appellate team also revealed that Mojaddidi never filed for the proper security clearances in court which would have allowed her to see any evidence the federal government had against Hayat, which they now believe didn’t exist. Their habeas corpus filing showed Mojaddidi never called a list of alibi witnesses in Pakistan who would have testified that Hayat never left their side while he visited, therefore could not have attended a camp.
On the evening Fighting for Freedom aired, our team watched the documentary from the office of Sacramento Valley CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, along with dozens of members of the Muslim American community. What followed was a deeply emotional discussion with the audience about the pain many of them still feel even 24 years after the September 11 attacks. Many audience members spoke about fear for their own safety and families, and a distrust of the federal government. Although difficult, several attendees also said the experience was very healing, and they left with a better understanding of what led to these terror investigations and how they could go wrong.
Schnell is an award-winning journalist who serves as a Hearst Television Regional News Director. He has management oversight for the news operations of the company’s California stations, KCRA/KQCA and KSBW-TV, the NBC affiliate in the Monterey-Salinas market, and its Albuquerque, New Mexico, ABC affiliate, KOAT-TV. Schnell has spent his entire professional career at Hearst Television, from intern to news director. After an investigative internship at KETV in Omaha, Schnell joined KOCO-TV as a producer before becoming an executive producer. He later moved to KMBC-TV and KCWE-TV, Hearst Television's ABC and CW affiliates in Kansas City, where he served as an executive producer, joining KCRA/KQCA in the same capacity before being elevated to assistant news director and news director. Schnell started his journalism career at KOMU, the university-owned NBC affiliate in Columbia, as a student at the University of Missouri.
Honorable Mention: Jennifer Lin; Other contributors: Jon Funabiki, “Ten Times Better,” American Masters
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